The 57th Bangkok Gems and Jewelry Fair (BGJF) was held between 24 and 28 February 2016 at Impact Muang Thong Thani under the theme ‘Thailand: Ruby Capital of the World’. The five-day event gathered 2,600 exhibitors and drew over 30,000 visitors from around the world. Important announcements were made by one of the organisers, Thai Gem and Jewelry Traders Association (TGJTA) regarding the decoupling of BGJF from trade shows in Hong Kong starting from 2017 and the debut of the world’s first ruby symposium in April next year.
Business at the fair
To boost business activities at BGJF, the Thai government had lifted duty and value-added tax on jewellery and gems traded during the event. Exhibitors commonly expressed that business was slower than last year’s show, which was not unexpected given the overall economic slowdown. Ellen Huang, director of Silver Moon Infinity, a Thai manufacturer of silver and cubic zirconia jewellery, said while visitor number dropped 30 to 40 percent, the reduction in business was limited to five to 10 percent as they had met new customers in the show. Huang hoped that the market will stabilise in the next two years. Cherry Shu, sales manager of Sparkle Gems Ltd, a gemstone trading business from Hong Kong, said old customers returned but there were few new ones. Contrary to market sentiments, Chanthaburi-based K&N Gems, manufacturer of semi-precious stone jewellery, recorded better business than last year. The company attributed their success to new designs and ideas together with relatively lower wholesale prices.
New moves
After collecting views from visitors and buyers, the fair organisers decided to decouple the biannual show from shows in Hong Kong starting from 2017. The February Bangkok show will be moved to January, away from the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show in March. Similarly, the September BGJF will be moved to August to avoid clash of schedule with the September Jewellery and Gem Fair. Suttipong Damrongsakul, president of TGJTA, said: “This is to ensure that buyers and exhibitors would not need to hurry from our fair to other fairs in the region.”
The planned ruby symposium is part of a two- to five-year strategy to promote the trade, said Anthony Peter Brooke, vice president of TGJTA and director of the Gems, Jewelry and Precious Metal Confederation of Thailand (GJPCT). Brooke said he has had this idea for many years and the 1st International Emerald Symposium held in Bogota, Colombia in October last year inspired him to bring this thought to reality. The symposium will involve worldwide stakeholders of the ruby trade including brokerages, government agencies and grading laboratories. Their aim is to maintain and reclaim Thailand’s leading position as a world processing centre of ruby.
Rupak Sen, regional marketing director of Gemfields Asia, pledged his support to the ruby symposium 2017. Sen estimated that 80 to 85 percent of all rubies in the world are cut in Thailand. He said it is the skill and partly the lower cost of production that make Thailand a ruby centre.
Outlook
Amidst the global economic downturn, organisers of BGJF remain optimistic. According to Suttipong, China has changed from a competitor of the Thai industry to a jewellery consumption country due to its increased cost of production. Compared to Singapore and Hong Kong, business operation costs in Thailand are lower so it is a good place to do business. In 2015, the industry grew by over three percent, and this year he expected a three-to five-percent growth. “The strength of our gems and jewellery industry is the skill of Thai people which has been widely accepted by the consumers around the world. Thailand could be a centre not only for ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) but AEC+6 (Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and mainland China),” he said.
With regard to future directions, he stressed that Thailand needs to transform itself from offering labour-intensive OEM services to trading, sourcing and branding. They cannot “just sit and wait for orders to come” as neighbouring countries are catching up with them. For instance, he believed that Myanmar will soon move to upstream production and start manufacturing jewellery instead of simply supplying gemstones. Furthermore, he shared six aspects to work on to strengthen the Thai gem and jewellery trade: to nurture skilled workers and designers; to fix shortage in rough gemstones and diamonds; to stimulate marketing support for manufacturers and exporters; to amend laws to support the industry; to help SMEs access financial support and finally, to encourage technology and innovation development.
The 58th BGJF will be held 7 – 11 September 2016 under the theme ‘Sourcing Thai: World Premier Gemstone and Jewelry Sources’ at the same venue.
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